


Crossed Wires

by laughablyunimportant



Series: Robotsomes [4]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Complete, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-23
Updated: 2012-01-23
Packaged: 2017-10-30 00:21:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/325713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughablyunimportant/pseuds/laughablyunimportant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They watch a movie. Again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crossed Wires

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Notdavesprite](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Notdavesprite).



> I write ficlets about these three for a friend of mine. So now I'm just. Posting them. They're silly and mostly do not conform to canon. And sometimes lack continuity.

"It seems everything is in order. Would you like me to hack in to your audio-visual setup, or are you thoroughly done staring in slack-jawed wonder at the start-up menu and prepared to push play yourself?" Jake frowned, tugging at the left sleeve of the jacket in displeasure. "Don't be such a cad! We're still waiting for Brobot."

The AR went silent in his ear, though the coat material seemed to get prickly and hot on his skin. They needed to find a better medium to translate eir emotions through the garment.

"It seems there has been a misunderstanding. The invitation to watch this movie was extended only to you."

Jake started, eyes going wide. "Only me? But--it's not any fun without Brobot there."

The jacket went cold and limp, like AR's presence had disappeared. "I see," ey said in Jake's ear, voice tinny and a little more distant. "Then perhaps the two of you will enjoy your night in together. You know where to find me if you need assistance with playback."

"Wait!" It was really hard to keep his friend from leaving when there was nothing to grab onto, but by golly Jake would grab em with the sheer power of his voice if he had to! (Or try, anyway.) "Aren't you going to watch, too?" He settled back into the coat, pulling it around him as though wrapping himself in Auto.

"It seems as though I would be an unnecessary hindrance to your fun. You can enjoy your date with the Brobot uninterrupted; I will leave you two alone."

Jake grabbed fistfuls of the green cloth in his hands, face scrunching up in agitation. "Dagnabbit, what's got you in such a tizzy? We always watch movies together--all three of us."

The silence stretched, and he thought that perhaps the AR had left after all, but when he pulled up the pesterchat window on his coat's projected screen, TT's handle was still lit.

"Is it so impossible that I might have wanted to spend some alone time with you, and that your insistence that that hunk of scrap metal must always accompany us is leaving me with the impression that you prefer his company to mine? That you may, in fact, not like my company at all, and tolerate it only because it allows you to pretend that he has a voice, and when I talk in your ear, it is actually him?"

Jake's mouth dropped open, hanging as seconds ticked before before he shut it, teeth giving an audible click as his expression went from mildly annoyed to downright angry. "Now hang on a tick, I've never said anything of the kind! I like BOTH of you gents, what's so wrong with wanting to hang out with a pair of my pals, instead of just the one? And yes, I wish he could talk--I'd think you'd sympathize, being a sort of robot brethren--but that doesn't mean I pretend you're him! I don't pretend he's you either, sitting on the couch or walking on the island. You're BOTH my friends." He's red in the face, balling up extra cloth in his hands as he leans forward on the edge of the couch. "And if you want to spend time together just you and me, well then _say_ so, none of this guarded sort-of half invitation huffy hussy hullabaloo! But don't take a simple miscommunication out on him, or me! That's an insult to the both of us, _and_ to you! I _like_ you chap, and I'm pretty sure Brobot does too, you don't need to be petty and looking for ways for things to fall apart. Or aren't we all the friends I thought we were?" Jake stares into nothing, imploring the cycling DVD menu since there's nowhere else to look. His earpiece is silent, but the icon is still highlighted, so he waits patiently for a reply.

"It seems," ey says finally, "that I may have made an error. I would like to retract my accusations." Ey paused. "And offer an apology. The next time I want to keep something between the two of us, I will attempt to make my intentions more clear."

Jake sat back then, sinking into the couch cushions to get more comfortable. "Alright then," he said, somewhat mollified. "I swear, you think in the strangest ways. Is that part of being a robot, I wonder, or just part of you?" The AR didn't answer, though the coat seemed to get a little warmer, cloth clinging tight to him in a way that he imagined felt something like a hug, from a real live person. He closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling, but after a time, the AR piped up in his ear again.

"So where is he, then? Should I remotely inform him that we're waiting?"

Jake pursed his lips, opening his eyes to stare at the ceiling. "I'm not sure," he said. "He's been sort of scarce lately. I've hardly seen him at all this whole week." His voice sounds a little forlorn. "I thought maybe this movie night would lift him out of whatever funk he's been in."

And isn't that just perfect timing; he hears metal footsteps coming up the stairs then, twisting in his seat to look at the entrance, a smile already lighting up his face. "Hey there cha--hello, what have we here?"

Brobot cleared the door, but there was...something different about him. His angles seemed somehow out of place, dented, his chassis dull, almost like it had been covered in soot or allowed to tarnish. Jake would even swear Brobot seemed a little smaller, arms and legs shorter, hair less full. And he was holding something in his hands.

"Brobot?" Jake asked, tentative. "What happened to you?"

His metal companion stared at him, and Jake would swear that even though his uranium heart required no rest, his friend looked **tired**. But he lifted his arms, offering the object in his hands. Jake took it, eyes widening.

"This..." he trailed off, looking back up at Brobot, who gave him a nod. "I don't understand."

In his ear, the AR asked "What? What is it?" and Brobot lifted an arm to tap the side of his glasses, nodding again at Jake. The boy's eyes widened, suddenly getting it.

"It's...it's a bot," he said. "A mini one." And it was. Jake wasn't sure where Brobot had gotten the metal--actually, wait, he was, he must have used parts from himself, downgrading and smelting to come up with enough scrap to make this, this, minibot. It was about eight inches tall, humanoid, though very thin, jointed arms ending in three-pronged claws instead of hands, tiny rounded head devoid of any identifiers but a single oversized eye in the center, and Jake suddenly wondered, if he lifted Brobot's glasses, would one of his eyesockets be empty? It was very plain, much like a wooden posing doll, a cord coming out of its back between the shoulder blades trailing to the floor, apparently for plugging in to a computer?

"He's making more of himself? What for?" The AR's voice in his ear made Jake start, looking up to Brobot to seek confirmation. His companion nodded, again lifting a hand to tap the side of his glasses, pointing to the minibot.

"I think it's for you," Jake said.

"It seems there's something of a miscommunication," eir voice sounds like it's wavering, but that doesn't make any sense, "I cannot be downloaded into a bot. My programming is too complex to be held in such a frame, especially one as small as a 'minibot.'"

Brobot tilted his head, and Jake responded, "Ey says it's too small for em," lifting the limp minibot in a futile gesture. Brobot brought his hand to his chest, palm held away as fingers rested lightly against metal. Then he closed his hand in a fist and offered it to Jake, in the gesture they'd worked out to mean 'trust me.'

"He says to trust him," Jake said faintly.

It took a moment, the coat fluttering around him, before he got the AR's, "Alright."

Jake took the cord in his fingers, pushing off the couch and going to his desktop (somehow he knew that whatever was about to happen would need more computing power than any of his portable computers could provide). He set the minibot carefully on the desk, feeling Brobot come up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. Taking a breath, Jake whispered, "Hope you're ready," and plugged the bot in.

Nothing happened.

Brobot gently pushed him aside to fiddle with the computer. "It seems that whatever was supphrghsk--"

AR's voice cut off with a sudden burst of static, and Brobot stepped away from the computer, shoulders straight and chin up in the posture that meant he was satisfied. Jake swallowed, throat tight, hoping that whatever had just happened was meant to happen. "Brobot?" his voice came out high, but the Brobot gave him a thumbs up, passing Jake to the couch like nothing had happened. His coat felt limp around him, and he was beginning to get worried, when on the desk, the minibot twitched.

Jake rushed forward to pick it up, then stopped, hands hovering just over the tiny metal form. As he watched, the camera lens dilated open, adjusting a few times with a whirring noise before it sat up. Slowly, it turned it's head, and Jake just _knew_ it was looking at him. "Auto?" he asked. The lens whirred and clicked, but the tiny bot otherwise made no sound. Then it fell off, like a puppet with its strings cut, and his hands darted out to catch it, a cry escaping his lips. His earpiece squawked, then AR's voice came on, something like...like awe, in eir voice.

"It works," ey said. "He--it's like a livestream of my consciousness. I'm not all there but I--I can move and...and I saw you." His voice is quiet. "I saw you."

A grin breaks out on Jake's face, and he lets loose a whoop, spinning in place. "You did it!" he shouts. "You did it!"  
"How did you do it?"

The mic in his ear gave another burst of static just as the minibot twitched, and AR cursed. "Fuckitall, this is hard. It's like trying to play seven games of chess and talk to all three of you while calculating pi to the millionth decimal."

Jake chuckled. "But you can do it, right? It's swell to have you here, but it would be a right damper on things if I was back to being the only talking person on the island."

The minibot twitched again, hauling itself to sit upright, and though the audio went tinny, it was still there. "Of course I can do it, just need a minute here. Sort of spanning millions of miles on the very tenuous and mystical connections of the internet, which as anyone can tell you, is the next closest thing to magic." The minibot flopped down again, and Jake scooped it up in his hands as AR let loose a string of curses in his ear.

"Maybe I can just carry you to the couch?" he said. He bumped into Brobot as he turned to do that, his larger friend shaking a finger as AR gave a curt "Cord." Jake's fingers circled the wire coming out of the minibot's shoulder blades, running along its length. "Oh," he said. "Right."

The minibot sat up in his hands, hauling itself up with thin arms braced on Jake's fingers. Jake giggled. "Well then, we, ah--" Brobot stepped to the side, giving him a view of the living room that he'd, rearranged? The projector was pointed at a new wall, couch shoved aside and a pile of blankets and pillows practically at Jake's feet, completely within distance for the minibot's cord. His eyes widened before going to Brobot. "You really...thought about this, didn't you?"

Brobot gave him a slow nod, head tilting as he regarded the minibot for a moment. The minibot tilted its head back, and in Jake's ear, AR said "He's really...nothing like Strider, is he? Or me, for that matter."

Jake settled into the pile of blankets, careful to keep the minibot safe until he was firmly ensconced in the pile, then setting him down gently. The minibot wobbled to its feet, repeatedly tumbling down as it tried to balance on the soft and giving surface. Jake laughed again, picking it up as Brobot settled in beside him.

"Why do you say that?" He curled up around Brobot's metal frame, snagging the remote--thoughtfully placed within reach---before settling the minibot into his lap, where it clambered up to perch on his thigh, mostly in contact with Jake, but also resting one of its arms on Brobot.

"It would seem that he has more compassion than either of us," AR said. The minibot--Jake guessed he should probably think of something better to call it, but AR just seemed weird--rubbed its arm against Brobot's leg, and Brobot looked down at it, reaching out a hand and extending one finger to bop it lightly on its head. "Though I suppose, with such excellent models, I could certainly try to learn." The minibot's camera swung his way, and Jake blushed, though he wasn't sure why.

He leaned more heavily against Brobot before reaching down a hand to rest on the minibot, thumb gently stroking its chest. "Sure," he said. "But you both seem fine to me just the way you are."

**Author's Note:**

> Also [art](http://notdavesprite.tumblr.com/post/16275505505/oh-wait-i-almost-forgot-to-post-this-little-shit) :3


End file.
